The Breakfast Case
by psycho-rag-doll
Summary: A freak snowstorm blows into Santa Barbara, trapping Shawn, Gus, Susie, Lassie, and Juliet in the public library. Shawn realizes the setting is perfect to re-enact 'The Breakfast Club'. A stranger breaks in, and the team must hold him 'til they're freed.
1. Chapter 1

It was a cold Saturday afternoon in Santa Barbara. A freak weather system had come up and started covering the town with snow. The weather was supposed to take a turn for the worse that night, giving Santa Barbara another three or four inches of snow to top the two or three already on the ground.

Gus carefully pulled the Blueberry into a parking spot at the public library. "I don't know why you insist on coming with me everywhere."

"Are you kidding?" Shawn asked from the passenger seat. "After that incident at the bank? I don't wanna lose you."

"Then how about you pay for the overdue video?"

"It's not my fault you lost it under a pile of newspapers."

"The newspapers **you** put on the table."

"At least they were off the floor."

"Two weeks after I told you to pick them up."

"Fine. I'll stop cleaning if this is how you're gonna act."

The two pulled their coats around themselves as they exited the car. The wind started blowing harder, almost pushing the two men into the library's doors.

It was pretty dead inside. Gus walked up to the desk, hoping a worker would sense he was there and come take his money so he could go back to the warmth of his apartment.

"Dude," Shawn said. "It's really quiet in here."

"It's a library, Shawn."

"I'm aware of that. But this is like..." Shawn paused, looking around. "Death quiet. Is anybody else here?"

"There has to be. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to get in. And I'm pretty sure I saw a few other cars in the parking lot." Gus craned his neck, trying to see in the backroom for a sign of a worker. "Hello?" he called in his somewhat-loud-but-still-considered-an-inside-voice voice.

"Come on, dude. Let's leave. We can come back tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's Sunday, Shawn."

"And?"

"And the library's closed on Sundays."

Shawn turned to Gus. "Really?" Gus just gave Shawn a look. "Well, I still say we should go. What's two more days really gonna do?"

"Add fifty cents to my fee, Shawn. Besides, somebody's probably waiting for this."

"Dude, who else besides you would be waiting for a documentary on tree frogs?"

Gus cast one more look around the circulation desk. It did seem strangely dark. "Okay," he said. "Let's go.

Shawn and Gus walked back to the front doors of the library. The doors, however, didn't budge.

"See?" he said, turning to Gus. "This is why I don't go to the library."

"Why would they lock the doors?" Gus asked. "Couldn't they see our car in the parking lot?"

Shawn looked out the glass of the door. All he could see was the swirling snow. "I doubt it."

"Oh my God. We're locked in the library. What are we gonna do? We're gonna be stuck here for two days."

"You're overreacting." Shawn said. He pulled his phone out and hit speed-dial.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Suze. I just wanted to make sure you had enough food and stuff, since the weather's turned for the worse."

"Uh, yeah, I think so."

"Good. And the power's still on?"

"Sure…"

"Good, good."

"Shawn, where are you?"

"Funny story. Gus and I are locked in the library."

"What?"

There was some noise on Susie's end of the line.

"Suze?" No answer. "Suze? You there?"

"Shawn."

Shawn and Gus turned around. Susie was standing behind them, phone in hand. Shawn looked at the phone in his hand and hung up. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I was getting some research done for a paper."

"How'd you get here?" Gus asked.

"Bus. Now, what are you two doing here?"

"We came to return a video."

"The one about tree frogs?"

"Yeah, I—wait. How'd you know about that?"

"I saw it under the pile of newspapers on the table."

"And you didn't tell me when I was looking for it?"

"I didn't know you were looking for it."

"I specifically asked you, 'Have you seen the tree frog video?'."

"And was I paying attention to you when you asked?"

Gus gave Susie the same look he'd given Shawn earlier. Susie looked past Shawn and Gus at the doors. "So, we're really locked in?"

"Looks that way." Shawn said.

"Well, that's unfortunate. Have you called the police or the fire department?"

"Not yet." Shawn took his phone back out and hit another speed-dial number.

"Hello?" There was a strange echo.

"Jules?"

"Hey, Shawn." The same echo was noticeable.

Shawn started to walk back into the library. Gus and Susie followed behind. "I just wanted to make sure things were okay down at the station in this crazy storm."

"Oh, I'm not at the station. I'm at the-"

"Library?" Shawn asked, rounding a corner. Juliet turned around.

"Shawn?" she asked. "Susie? Gus? What are you guys doing here?"

"We're locked in." Gus said.

"What are you doing here?" Shawn asked.

"I was looking for a book."

"Libraries are wonderful for that."

"Yeah." Juliet paused. "So, wait. We're really locked in here?"

"My guess is they closed early because of the bad weather." Gus said.

"How bad is it out there?"

"Can't see three feet outside the door." Susie said.

"I'll call Lassiter." Juliet said. "Maybe he can come get us out."

Shawn dialed a number on his phone. "Who are you calling?" Susie asked.

"My dad. Knowing him, he probably knows someone who works here who can come get us out."

Gus and Susie watched as Juliet and Shawn went off in different directions to make calls. Juliet came back a minute later. "Lassiter's not at his desk."

"Try his cell." Gus suggested.

Juliet dialed, pacing around slightly.

A few seconds later, Lassiter came out of the darkness, holding his phone.

"Lassiter?" Juliet asked.

Lassiter jumped slightly. "O'Hara, what are you doing here? You're calling me."

"So where are you going?"

"It's proper for all cell phone use to be contained to the lobby."

"Always the law-abider." Susie said.

"What are you doing here?" Gus asked.

Lassiter adjusted his tie. "I was just looking over some past newspaper articles."

"Ones focusing on you?" Susie asked.

"What, you don't have those scrap booked at your house?" Shawn asked.

"How long have you been listening in?" Gus asked.

"The whole time."

"Does your dad know anyone who can help?"

"Of course. He knows like, five. He's gonna call around."

"What's going on?" Lassiter asked.

"We're locked in." Juliet said.

"What? How the hell did that happen?" Lassiter asked. "If they were going to close the library early, shouldn't they have made some sort of announcement?"

"Carlton, we all know how absorbed you get when you're reading the newspaper." Juliet said.

"Especially if the article's about you." Susie mumbled.

"And I suppose you heard the announcement and you just chose to stay here?"

"I don't know if they made an announcement or not. I had my headphones in. Helps me concentrate."

At that moment, Shawn's phone rang. "Hello?" he answered. "Okay….. Awesome. Thanks, Dad." Shawn hung up. "Good news or bad news?" he asked.

"Does it matter?" Lassiter asked.

"Indeed it does. But now is not the time for me to share why. Good news, my dad got a hold of someone who can come get us out."

"And the bad?" Susie asked.

"It's gonna be a while for the dude to get here."

"How long of a while?" Gus asked.

"Two to three hours."

"Why?" Lassiter asked.

"Because ninjas stole the guy's car. Why do you think, Lassie?" Susie said.

"You are-"

Susie held her hand up to Lassiter and turned her head to Shawn. "I'm going upstairs to work on my paper. Let me know when we're free."

Shawn watched as Susie made her way upstairs. Then he turned to Gus. "This place has an upstairs?"


	2. Chapter 2

With Susie upstairs working on her paper, Lassiter back at the microfilm machine and Juliet curled up with some romance book, Shawn decided to wander around the library. He hadn't been in it since he was little. Gus followed him to make sure he didn't destroy anything.

"Dude, you know what this is kind of like?"

"What?"

"'The Breakfast Club'."

"Why do you always have to associate something with an 80s movie?" Gus asked.

"Because those were some of the best movies America has ever made. But seriously, think about it. We're locked in a library. On a Saturday."

"Shawn, they were in the school library for detention, not accidentally locked in the public library due to a snowstorm."

"Dude, there's even the same amount of people here!"

"And I suppose you're Judd Nelson?"

"Of course. Lassie's too uptight and law-abiding to be the 'Criminal'. And you don't have the hair for it."

"Then who am I?"

"The Brain, of course."

"I never took a flare gun to school."

"But you did get a low grade in shop."

"That's because you told me the wrong way to wire the-"

"Elephant lamp?"

"We never made an elephant lamp, Shawn." Gus paused. "So, who's Molly Ringwald?"

Shawn thought for a second. "Jules."

"Figures."

"Dude, between Jules and Susie, who fits a 'princess' title more?"

Gus thought and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

"Exactly. Now, let's go see how our little Basket case is doing."

"You probably shouldn't call her that."

The two rode the elevator up to the second floor. They saw Susie sitting at a table, books spread all around her, laptop illuminating her face.

"Hey Basket case." Shawn said.

Susie glanced up at Shawn and Gus. "Playing Breakfast Club, are we?" she asked.

"You know me so well." Shawn said.

"Let me guess. You're Judd Nelson, and Gus is Anthony Michael Hall."

"Why do you assume I'm the nerd?"

"First of all, he's called Brain, not nerd." Shawn said.

"And since he's called Brain, you could think I assumed you were him because of your high intelligence." Susie said.

Gus smiled slightly. "Well, thanks Su-"

"Or it could be because you don't have the hair to be Judd Nelson. Or there's the possibility that it's because you failed shop class."

"How do you-"

"How could a guy like you pass shop?" Susie asked. "You tap. You don't do handiwork. And you work in pharmaceuticals. Selling drugs to doctors doesn't really break a sweat."

"You've obviously never met some of the doctors I have to deal with."

"You mean like Dr. McCormick? Yeah, he's a real ball-buster, that one."

"Susie have you been going through my files?"

"Never."

"Shawn," Gus said, turning to his friend to see if he could control Susie, or reprimand her. But Shawn had lost interest in their bickering and was now dancing his way around the library.

"Shawn, stop dancing."

At that moment, Juliet came up the stairs. "Did you guys drop something up here?"

"Like what?" Susie asked.

"I don't know. I just… thought I heard something."

"Did you check with Lassiter?" Gus asked.

"The noise sounded like it came from up here. And I don't know where he is."

"The microfilm machine is in one of the backrooms, behind the magazines."

"It could be the ghost." Susie said.

"Susie, this isn't a movie." Juliet said.

"Yeah, Shawn." Gus said.

"I'm aware of this." Susie said.

"A ghost in the library? How many times have you seen 'Ghostbusters'?"

"As much as I love Bill Murray movies, I didn't mean that." Susie typed a few things on her laptop. "See?" She turned the screen towards the adults.

All three grown ups came over and looked at the screen. The page was from a local magazine. It was published two years ago. The headline read 'Local Library Haunted'. It told the story of about a dozen people who claimed they'd seen a ghost in the library moving stuff around. A few people said the ghost had whispered to them. There were a few blurry photos of so-called 'orbs'.

"Ghosts don't exist." Gus said.

"Says the man who's terrified of 'Ghost Adventures'." Shawn said.

"You watch 'Ghost Adventures'?" Juliet asked.

"It's quite entertaining." Susie said.

"Let's go find Lassie-face." Shawn said. "Then we'll have the whole cast."

"Cast?" Juliet asked.

"He's pretending we're in 'The Breakfast Club'." Gus explained.

Juliet smiled. "Who am I?"

"Molly Ringwald."

"Why?"

"Because between the two of us, you're most likely to be nominated Prom Queen." Susie said.

"I don't know, Susie. I think you could have a shot at being Prom Queen."

"Yeah, well. Your vote doesn't really count at high school anymore. You served your time."

"Let's go find Lassiter." Gus said.

The three adults started towards the stairs. Shawn turned back. Susie was still sitting at the table. "Coming, Suze?"

"Nah. You go ahead. I'm gonna try and finish this paper."

Shawn sensed there was probably something else on Susie's mind, but decided to drop it. He followed after Juliet and Gus.

Susie watched as they left. 'Prom Queen,' she thought to herself. 'Ha.'

Downstairs, Gus led the way to the microfilm machine. Inside the tiny room sat Lassiter, looking almost longingly at the screen.

"Found the 'Detective Dipstick' article yet?" Shawn asked.

"Spencer, for the last time, stop calling me that."

"Or what? You gonna tape Gus's butt cheeks together?"

"Did you hear a loud noise earlier?" Juliet asked.

"You mean besides Spencer's yapping?"

"I'm serious, Carlton."

Lassiter looked up at Juliet. "No, I haven't heard anything."

Upstairs, Susie was sitting at the table, staring at her laptop. She'd been working on her paper for almost two hours. 'I might as well pack up and head downstairs.' She said to herself. She was putting her laptop in her bag when she heard a small noise. She paused, listening harder. The noise came again. It sounded like it was coming from above her. In the air vents.

'Crap,' Susie thought. 'This really is turning into 'The Breakfast Club'.'


	3. Chapter 3

Susie looked around the library. Should she go get the adults and have them investigate the noise, or should she investigate it herself?

'I'm probably just imagining things.' Susie told herself. 'Too much concentration on the paper.' Susie started towards the stairs.

The noise came again, a little louder this time. Susie changed course and headed towards the back of the library. There she found a door that said 'Roof Access. Library Staff Only'. She quickly picked the lock and headed up the stairs.

The door that led to the roof was sticking slightly. Susie pushed and the door opened. The snow was still falling and the wind was still blowing. Susie squinted her eyes against the wind and looked across the roof for any sign that someone had been up there recently.

If there had been any footprints, the new fallen snow had covered them up. Not wanting to contaminate the 'crime scene', Susie pulled her camera out of her bag and took a couple pictures of the roof. Then she shut the door and huddled back in the warmth of the stairwell. Tucking her damp hair behind her ears, Susie reviewed the pictures she'd taken. Most of them were useless, but there was one where when she zoomed in, she could see one of the screws was missing from the cover of the air vent. As if someone had unscrewed the cover, crawled in the vent and pulled the cover back on from the inside.

Susie went back to the second floor of the library and sent Shawn a text. A few minutes later, he and Gus came up the stairs. "What's going on?" he asked. "Why are you all wet?"

"Snow." Susie said. "I think someone else is in the library with us."

"Like who?" Gus asked.

"I don't know."

"What's your proof?" Shawn asked.

Susie showed him the picture on her camera. "I heard a noise, so I went up to the roof. I couldn't see anything, so I took a couple pictures. There's a screw missing from the cover of the air vent."

"You think someone got up to the roof, unscrewed the air vent cover, and went into the air vent?" Shawn asked.

"Yeah. There's a fire escape over there." Susie said, pointing to the other side of the library. The snow-covered fire escape was visible through a window. A door next to the window had a sign on it that said 'Fire Escape Only. Alarm Will Sound When Door Is Opened.' "They could have easily gotten up to the roof and unscrewed the cover."

"Why would someone do that?" Gus asked.

"I don't know. But I don't see you handing out any suggestions on how this could have happened."

Gus thought. "The screw could have been loosened by an earthquake. It's probably laying on the ground right under the air vent."

"You're probably right about it laying on the ground," Shawn said. "But not so much about the earthquake."

"Why not?"

"Because earthquakes don't crawl through air vents."

"What?"

"Shhh."

The group got quiet, listening. A small banging and scuffling sound could be heard above them. "Is that….?" Gus asked.

"Sounds like it." Shawn said.

"So, how did Juliet hear that?"

"This probably isn't what she heard. In fact, she probably didn't hear anything. Libraries have that effect on people."

"Shawn, what are you talking about?"

"Susie, is there an opening to the vent on this floor?"

"Yeah, in the corner over this way." Susie said, leading the two men over to a vent. It was about five inches from the ceiling. Shawn pulled a chair over and took a look at the grate. "Now all we need to do is find a screwdriver." Shawn said.

"Phillips or flat?"

The two men looked at Susie. She was standing there, two screwdrivers in hand.

"Suze, where'd you get those?"

"My bag."

"Do you just carry screwdrivers around with you?" Gus asked.

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

The two men looked at each other, but couldn't come up with a reason. Shawn looked at the grate again. "Flat."

Susie handed him the screwdriver and watched as he unscrewed the cover from the vent. "Okay," he said as he handed the grate and the screwdriver back to Susie. "Go ahead, Gus. Get in."

"You must be out of your damn mind." Gus said. "I think Judd Nelson should do it."

"Fine. You probably wouldn't fit anyways. Your hips are getting bigger."

"Flashlight?" Susie asked, handing one to Shawn.

"How is it you have all of that stuff in your bag?" Gus asked.

"I'm friends with Mary Poppins."

"You wouldn't happen to have a map of this air vent system in your bag, do you?" Shawn asked.

"No. Sorry."

"Okay. I'll manage. Gus, you stay here. Suze, go downstairs and open the vent that's on the first floor. I'll make it out somewhere between here and there."

Susie nodded and headed downstairs. Gus turned to Shawn. "Are you really gonna get in the air vent?"

"I'm strongly considering it." Shawn tried to pull himself up into the vent. "Gus, give me a boost."

Gus pushed Shawn up and he was able to get into the vent. There wasn't enough room for him to turn around though. "This is smaller than I thought." Shawn shouted behind him. He started crawling through the vent.

"You gonna be able to make it downstairs through this?" Gus asked.

"Hopefully. Or this might just circle around on this floor." Shawn started crawling further into the vent, Susie's flashlight in one hand.

Downstairs, Susie was trying to find the air vent. She was walking past the fiction section when Lassiter spotted her. "Morrison, what are you doing? Where's Spencer?"

"I'm…" Susie paused. Should she tell the detective what Shawn was doing?

"Why is your hair wet?"

"It's only slightly damp." Susie said.

"Why?"

"It started raining upstairs. Weirdest thing." Susie said, trying to keep on her way to find the air vent. "I was just heading downstairs to see if I could find some buckets to collect the rain in."

Lassiter placed a hand on Susie's shoulder. "Listen, Morrison. I don't have time for games."

"Why not? We're stuck in a library. It's not like you have anything better to do."

Upstairs, Shawn was beginning to wonder if he was getting lost. The inside of an air vent is a very bland place, and it seems never-ending. Shawn's mind was starting to wander, when his hand landed in something wet. He looked down and saw a puddle of water. He craned his neck upwards and saw an opening a few inches in front of him. 'I bet that leads to the roof,' Shawn thought. He shone the flashlight down the tunnel and the vent and saw small puddles leading away from him. He began to crawl faster, hoping there was an opening that would allow him to drop down into the first floor's air vent system.

Susie had finally broken out of Lassiter's grip and was continuing her lap around the library. She finally spied the air vent grate. She began walking faster towards it, and when she reached it she took a chair from a nearby table and climbed up on top of it. She took a screwdriver out of her bag and began to unscrew the grate.

"Morrison!" Lassiter said, popping out from behind a shelf. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Were you following me?" Susie asked, continuing to unscrew the grate.

"Destroying public property is a crime, you know."

"What are you guys doing?" Juliet asked, coming around the corner.

"Morrison's committing a crime, right in front of two police officers." Lassiter said, his hand itching to grab his cuffs.

Susie pulled the grate off the wall. She was about to explain what was going on, when a strange banging sound could be heard in the ceiling. A few moments later, Shawn's head popped out of the grate.

"Spencer, what the hell are you doing?" Lassiter asked.

"Solving a crime."

"What crime?" Juliet asked.

"Somebody broke in here through the vent on the roof."

"Who?"

"I don't know."

"So where are they now?"

"I don't know."

"You're so much help, Spencer." Lassiter said.

"Speaking of help, could you maybe assist me in getting out of this? It's pretty much impossible to turn around in these things."

At that moment, Gus walked around the corner. "Did you find anything?" He asked Shawn.

"There was definitely someone else in here before me."

"So where are they?"

"I don't know, Gus. I thought I did a good job of figuring this much out. Now, can you come help me get out of this?"

Gus walked over and began to pull Shawn out of the vent by his arms. As Shawn's torso came out of the vent, Susie helped steady him and guide his legs towards the chair she had vacated a few moments earlier. When Shawn was safely on the ground again, Lassiter began to question him.

"What's the big idea?" he asked. "Why were you in the air vent?"

"I told you, Lassie. Someone broke in and crawled through the air vent."

"Well, I find that a little hard to believe since there's no one else here."

Shawn was about to open his mouth to argue, but then he remembered something. Before he'd seen the light coming from the first floor opening, he'd seen what looked like an opening in the vent that went downward, probably towards the basement. Shawn threw himself on the floor.

"Spencer, what the hell are you doing?"

"The gravitational pull is strong here. The spirits are pulling me towards the criminal." Shawn began to crawl along the floor. "I sense…. I sense that he is in the basement."

"How do we get to the basement?" Juliet asked.

"There's a door in the staff room behind the circulation desk." Susie said from the chair, where she was reattaching the grate.

"Is it unlocked?"

"Has that ever stopped us before?" Susie said.


End file.
